Finding players with good fantasy floors is a foundation of cash-game research in daily fantasy soccer. Racking up consistent points without a dependence on goals and assists is the reason we barely flinch at paying $10,000 on DraftKings for Gylfi Sigurdsson or Kevin De Bruyne. With the inconsistency in goal scoring for every player, getting those who can accumulate points without finding the back of the net is vital. However, we can't just spend up for all the best accumulators because at some point we'll have three spots to fill and $3,000 left in the bank.
DraftKings requires fantasy managers to focus on players who cross a lot because crosses are the most consistent stat in the game. However, there are players who can contribute without them, and they are usually lower on the salary scale.
There were 32 players who scored at least nine fantasy points on DraftKings without a goal or assist this past weekend, including 20 who scored at least 10. Crosses continue to be the most consistent way to reach the double-digit threshold, but it's not the only way to get there. In fact, there were 10 players who reached nine fantasy points, including three with 10+, without counting their crosses (this doesn't mean they didn't cross, just that they were able to reach nine points without them).
That being said, most of the players who accumulated points without crosses were still wingers, led by Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who packed the stat sheet with six shots, two shots on goal, seven crosses, three tackles won, three interceptions and one foul drawn for 18.75 fantasy points, including 13.5 without the crosses (he also committed a foul, but I am focusing on positive point generation, in case you're sitting there thinking "but he only scored 18.25 for my team!"). Oxlade-Chamberlain's success came on Friday's two-game interleague slate, which was significantly smaller than Saturday's Premier League one. If you're looking for the Saturday winner, that would be Crystal Palace's Patrick van Aanholt, who also played as a left wingback, though he is classified as a defender on DraftKings, as opposed to Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is a midfielder.
Here's a breakdown of the players who scored at least nine fantasy points this weekend, not including goals or assists:
FanDuel's scoring is very different than DraftKings' because while they do not count crosses, they do include more defensive stats like clearances and blocked shots while giving more weight to interceptions. Additionally, shots on goal are much more valuable and chances created can significantly alter a player's upside. Oxlade-Chamberlain was still the highest scorer of the weekend, but we saw many more defensive-minded players providing excellent floors, including Southampton's Oriol Romeu and Brighton's Lewis Dunk.
Setting our arbitrary threshold at 20 fantasy points, we saw 31 players score at least that many without a goal or assist, including many defenders, specifically center-backs. This is unsurprising to anyone who is versed in the FanDuel scoring system, but it also shows that there's no single stat to focus on. As we see with the Burnley center-back pairing of Ben Mee and James Tarkowski, there are many different ways to reach 20 fantasy points. The latter's 16 clearances (one point each) made up nearly 65 percent of his 24.65 fantasy points, while the former got 65 percent of his points from two shots on goal (five points each) and six clearances.
Attacking players were still well represented, as Spurs' Christian Eriksen reached 15 fantasy points from shots on goal and an additional nine for creating three chances. Lower volume shooters like Henrikh Mkhitaryan (six chances created) and David Silva (five chances created) combined for just one shot on goal but still scored 26.85 and 26.20 fantasy points, respectively. FanDuel's scoring system really opens up the player pool, as you'll see with the positions included below:
Yahoo's points system is much flatter than DraftKings and FanDuel, but it has more similarities to FanDuel because it allows (forces?) you to consider many more players. Additionally, because there are more fractional points awarded for each stat, the threshold for floor consideration is a bit wider. For example, there were 43 players who scored at least 7.00 fantasy points, including 15 who scored fewer than 7.50 and 24 who scored at least 8.00.
Attacking players get their points from a variety of categories, with shots on goal the most valuable at two points each. However, defensive players are still very much in consideration because tackles and interceptions accumulate faster, while each blocked shot is worth half as much as a shot on goal but double one shot (unfortunately, blocked shots don't happen nearly enough to warrant targeting them as a stat category). As you'll see, fullbacks aren't well represented among the group of players with high floors in Week 1, though we do see a few wingbacks:
*ACR = accurate open-play crosses
We're only one week into the season, so blindly targeting players from the lists above is hardly a strong fantasy strategy. However, they at least provide a decent view into which positions may be better poised for safer fantasy floors.
